Microphone Cables pricing can range from $5 to $100+ they begin to get a bit pricey when you are looking at bigger brands. When you are purchasing a cable it is recommended to stay away from the lower priced ones; especially if they are coming from China on Ebay. Those cables usually don’t make it past a span of a few weeks and most likely will not be returnable. Try your best to stay away from the more higher priced ones as well, as they are not worth the cost and work the same as all the other cables that are decently priced, and affordable. The recommended price to pay for your microphone cables would be between $25 to $50. With that price you will be sure to get excellent quality in an affordable range of price.
The typical way microphone cables are constructed includes five different parts. These parts are the two conductors, insulation, fillers, shielding, and the outer jacket. The foundation of the cable starts with the two wire conductors wrapped with the insulation, those two wires are twisted together and covered with filler preserving the roundness of the cable. After that is the shielding which is most likely to be covered with copper to protect the conductors from interference. Lastly, the cable is protected with a rubber outer jacket to ensure it doesn’t get damaged.
There are six very important things that commit to the price and the conduct of higher quality cables. Those six things are the strand count, the lay, shielding, impact absorption, connector conductivity, and star quad cabling. Taking apart the cable you would see both copper conductors are made of many different wires rather than just one wire. That’s because when you have a larger amount of strands, it increases the flexibility and the durability of the cable. It is very useful to have that for the cable to have that when it’s going through a lot of usage.
Looking at the twisting of the two conductors you will see that the more higher priced cables have more twists in them rather than the cheaper ones. This is referred to as the lay. All that is just a measurement of the distance between each twist. Basically, the more twists there are, the shorter the lay is. Shorter lays on better cables, improves the noise cancellation and also the flexibility. Although, it does mean more using wire, meaning more manufacturing time, and making it cost more.
In addition to taking apart these cables is that you will realize that the shielding varies depending on the cost. Braided shielding is strands of copper that are braided together for exceptional strength and durability. Since it has high conductivity it has amazing hi-frequency and RFI shielding. Serve shielding, uses flat copper strands wrapped in one direction. Although it is less adequate at shielding, it has an even greater flexibility than braided shields do. Foil shielding, is a combination of foil wrapping and copper drain wire. It is less effective and less durable as a shield. When a cable gets stepped on or hits the stage, it compresses for a short moment and causes a noise that sounds sort of like a slap. That is called the triboelectric effect. It’s a large concern for cables that are handled a lot. To solve that better cables use special material to improve the impact absorption. to elevate the electrical conductivity manufacturers coat the connectors with different metals. like silver or gold. New technology known as star quad cabling is four smaller connectors instead of two.